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UK police identify Novichok suspects as Russians: report

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By Robin MILLARD

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Less than a thousand are Kremlin "secret agents".

How does anyone know how many? Lol

KGB/FSB is too good a spy institution to let just anyone know how many secret agents are really out there

Besides, ya can't make this stuff up, lol

"Mere gun lover, or Siberian spy? Maria Butina's curious path"

https://japantoday.com/category/world/mere-gun-lover-or-siberian-spy-maria-butina's-curious-path

Reads like straight out of a James Bond movie

Hey, we do the same thing with CIA spies - we believe CIA spies are everywhere - every time something news-worthy happens, it's always the CIA

Venezuela mass protests? CIA!

Syria mass protests? CIA!

Kim Jong-nam assassination? CIA!

See? There are at least 300 million Americans - how many billions of CIA agents are there? Who knows?

13 ( +14 / -1 )

British interest in this provocation is very obvious: to deflect people's attention from the Brexit imbroglio, to reunite badly devided West against a common enemy.

That's your argument? MI6 did this to make people forget about Brexit? Such a poor & illogical line of thought. So why didn't they choose an actual EU member as the perpetrator instead of some already distrusted obscure faraway power that was once a valuable ally? Your logic makes no sense. And why would Britain actively seek to worsen relations with a country who it depends on for much of its fuel? Does Britain want to pay more for its winter gas? Not all nations seek to sow such mischief.

There may be a reason why why the UK is blaming Russia. It could either be that Russia did it, or for some other reason apart from your Brexit imbroglio reason.

Try harder next time @Asakaze

8 ( +9 / -1 )

When I traveled in the Soviet Union in the 1980s I was tailed, interrogated and also had my luggage searched (they didn't make much of an effort to hide it) at my pension. I was assigned an East German roommate who watched me like a hawk, tried to provoke me into saying negative things, and tried to set me up with a woman. (I bought her a watermelon using US dollars to get off her hook.)

I wonder what portion of their national wealth back them devoted to spying on each other, and informing on each other.

I still enjoyed my trip, and came away with sympathy for the average person. But the legacy of Stalin, it seems, continues.

7 ( +7 / -0 )

Den

I assume the logic is that, if this was perpetrated by Russia, the objective was not so much to kill a former double agent, but to warn their current agents against going double.

7 ( +7 / -0 )

Putin wants to feed Europe and Asia all of its natural gas while trying to recreate neo-USSR. He will play along because he doesn't a lot leverage on them like the Dump in the WH.

6 ( +7 / -1 )

Putin very keen to have that Bill Browder fella.

Mr Browder is widely credited with the creation of the Magnitsky Act - a 2012 range of sanctions from the United States on top Russian officials accused of corruption.

The act was named after his former lawyer, Sergei Magnitsky, who uncovered an alleged tax fraud in Moscow - and died in a Russian prison in 2009.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-44301072

Seems like another British citizen at risk from the Kremlin.

He says:

...The biggest mistake that Putin made in his offer today to effectively swap me for the 12 Russian agents is that he went to the wrong head of state. Although I was born in America, I emigrated to the United Kingdom 29 years ago and am a British citizen. If he really wants me, he better go talk to Theresa May, who might have a few choice words for him after Russian agents spread the military-grade nerve agent Novichok across the cathedral town of Salisbury, England.

6 ( +6 / -0 )

Why British authorities don't want to think logically?

Skripal betrayed Russia, there is the motivation for his murder. Russia has eliminated traitors on foreign shores before, and been caught doing it. A Russian nerve agent was used. The current Russian regime has a history of political assassinations, repression, annexations, bombings, support of regimes that gas civilians, election interference, civilian aviation murder to name just a few crimes.

Therefore, due to Russia's appalling behaviour, this makes Russia at the very least a strong suspect in this affair. What is the logic in Britain murdering a Russian defector on its own soil in such a public way? I have little trust in the British Government, but by jove I have far less in the criminal regime in Moscow.

5 ( +7 / -2 )

No worries Trump says they are still our best friends in the world.

4 ( +5 / -1 )

All Russian nationals need expulsing from the EU with their assets seized until further notice.

Someone needs to stand up to Don Putin and it isn't going to be the cowardly orange poodle in the Whitehouse right now.

3 ( +6 / -3 )

No confirmation from the police that the PA article is true, then again that is normal during an ongoing enquiry.

3 ( +3 / -0 )

Do you understand the difference between facts and claims?

Multiple intelligence agencies saying with 100% certainty that it was the Russians vs. a conspiracy nut in an online news site comments section. Yeah I understand the difference. Cant say the same about you though.

3 ( +3 / -0 )

Geez, if KGB agents are so inept and stupid that they can"t kill some geezer and lose their stuff, how come they are able to "influence US elections"?

Well, they were successful both times and they got caught both times. What's not to believe?

Your tin foil probably needs an oil change. The CIA brain wave signals are getting through.

2 ( +5 / -3 )

By the way, I'm not even sure that Skripal was actually poisoned, so far no evidence, no press conference or something, only talk.

Asakaze - what evidence do you require? I'm struggling to think of evidence other than government scientists declaring that they have assessed the victims and identified the poison and subsequently found traces of it elsewhere. And wouldn't a press conference be "only talk" by definition?

You are suggesting a conspiracy now involving hundreds of people. It just isn't realistic or even faintly plausible.

2 ( +3 / -1 )

Less than a thousand are Kremlin "secret agents".

Utter nonsense. No country the size of Russia with a militaristic outlook and a long history of espionage could run with such a small secret service.

2 ( +3 / -1 )

Hear! Hear! The sheep want war!

Nobody wants war. I'm very much in favor of countries getting along. But Russia, under the Putin regime, is not going to deliver peace. A peaceful and just administration does not act in the fashion that his does.

Murdering critics, journalists and political opponents. Invading other countries. Shooting down passenger jets. Assasination attempts on British soil, some successful, some not.

And I'm not a fan of any British govt but that doesn't mean I believe it's an inside job or an attempt to smear another country.

The alt-right CTs are in full on deflection mode on this one.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

To keep their international status now that Russia is supplanting the US in Western Europe Russian leaders will most likely co-operate with UK authorities, knowing whoever is responsible for this, assuming they are in fact Russians, is doing potential harm to Putin's reputation.

The Russians won't just say "Prove! Prove it!", will they?

1 ( +5 / -4 )

Then tell me why would Russia actively seek to worsen relations with a country it has such a good business with?

It was seeking to murder a traitor, not worsen relations. A large number of Russian exiles die in mysterious circumstances. And some have their tea laced with Palonium 210.

Just before the World Cup Putin really wanted to hold smoothly?

It did run smoothly.

To reunite badly devided West against a common enemy.

The West is not badly divided. But even if it was, murdering a Russian traitor will not bring unity.

You assess Russia as innocent because of a weak argument about a lack of motive, when it clearly did have a motive, as well as the means and previous at this. You then ascribe a frankly ludicrous motive to the UK. It is all so weak. Sometimes things are actually what they appear to be.

1 ( +2 / -1 )

Some people never learn. UK just several years ago admitted it lied about the "Saddam's nukes" from the very beginning. "Yes we lied, so what?"

Wrong. It has never admitted to lies about WMDs. But exaggerating evidence is rather different than murdering one of your citizens and worsening relations with a major world power for no discernable benefits.

They could have killed him many years before that, when he was in jail. That was "frankly ludicrous motive" of yours.

Of course they could but there was no need. Now, despite being released and offered citizenship in another country, the message is out that Russia always gets its man. Betray the motherland at your peril. She will get you in the end.

Then why all these cries about crisis of G-7 and NATO?

There isn't one, except in your head. And murdering a Russian traitor would do nothing to improve it.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's security minister on Thursday dismissed a report that police have identified several Russians who were behind the poisoning of former Russian double-agent Sergei Skripal as "wild speculation".

"I think this story belongs in the ill informed and wild speculation folder" Ben Wallace said in response to the Press Association report.

0 ( +2 / -2 )

The crew's all here, tinfoil on standby comrades.....

-2 ( +6 / -8 )

The crew's all here, tinfoil on standby comrades.....

You don't get it. The tin foil is for those who believe in crazy conspiracies. The rest of us just want to get on with our lives without you lot calling for a war based some imaginary grievances (that, at worst, are simply reflections of what the US does regularly to other countries).

-2 ( +5 / -7 )

@extanker

Well, they were successful both times and they got caught both times. What's not to believe?

Your tin foil probably needs an oil change. The CIA brain wave signals are getting through

Who got caught, when, where? Do you understand the difference between facts and claims?

 An oil change for your tin foil is not enough, you need much more serious attention. 

@Ah_so

You are suggesting a conspiracy now involving hundreds of people. It just isn't realistic or even faintly plausible

Some people never learn. UK just several years ago admitted it lied about the "Saddam's nukes" from the very beginning. "Yes we lied, so what?"

It was seeking to murder a traitor

 They could have killed him many years before that, when he was in jail. That was "frankly ludicrous motive" of yours.

 The West is not badly divided

Then why all these cries about crisis of G-7 and NATO?

-4 ( +0 / -4 )

All Russian nationals need expulsing from the EU with their assets seized until further notice.

Someone needs to stand up to Don Putin and it isn't going to be the cowardly orange poodle in the Whitehouse right now.

Hear! Hear! The sheep want war!

-6 ( +5 / -11 )

Why British authorities don't want to think logically? What was the reason for Kremlin to assassinate double agent who was jailed in 2004 and then was pardoned by Russian president Dmitri Medvedev in 2010. If Skripal really threatened Russians they would never let him go. Not to mention attempt on ordinary Brits. They surely didn't threaten Putin or anybody else. The investigators should study evidence ignoring the anti-Russian hysteria.

-8 ( +2 / -10 )

A Russian nerve agent was used. The current Russian regime has a history of political assassinations, repression, annexations, bombings, support of regimes that gas civilians, election interference, civilian aviation murder to name just a few crimes. Therefore, due to Russia's appalling behaviour, this makes Russia at the very least a strong suspect in this affair. What is the logic in Britain murdering a Russian defector on its own soil in such a public way?

A nerve agent, well-known in the West, particularly to the nearby chemical warfare center at Porton Down, was used. The NATO countries have quite a history of aggressions against other countries, political assassinations, bombings, false flag attacks, provocations, support of terrorists, election interference, support of neonazi regimes that shoot down civilian jets - just to name some crimes. Therefore, due to NATO appaling behavior, this makes NATO the prime suspect in this affair. British interest in this provocation is very obvious: to deflect people's attention from the Brexit imbroglio, to reunite badly devided West against a common enemy.

I just wonder what the Western leaders would do without Putin? Who else they'd blame for their ineptitude, their blunders, their rank stupidity?

-8 ( +2 / -10 )

Your logic makes no sense. And why would Britain actively seek to worsen relations with a country who it depends on for much of its fuel? Does Britain want to pay more for its winter gas? Not all nations seek to sow such mischief

Exellent. Then tell me why would Russia actively seek to worsen relations with a country it has such a good business with? Risk to lose a lot of money just for the hell of it? Just before the World Cup Putin really wanted to hold smoothly? Among the "Russian interference" mad storm in the US? That your logic makes no sense.

or for some other reason apart from your Brexit imbroglio reason

Read again my previous post, carefully. To reunite badly devided West against a common enemy. Need an explanation? By the way, I'm not even sure that Skripal was actually poisoned, so far no evidence, no press conference or something, only talk. No actual poisoning, just a big noise in the MSM would do "stand together against evil Putin" trick.

Next time try harder, Clop.

-8 ( +1 / -9 )

Oh, here it is again, the Skripal magic story.

When the British government needed an excuse to invade Iraq, British intelligence miraculously discovered "Saddam's nukes". When the British government needed a means to deflect attention from the Brexit imbroglio, "Russian spies" staged a fantasctically inept killing attempt on a uselees double agent. When the British government desperately needed a means to unite again the shattered West and to turn the tide of peoples opininon towards Russia after the wonderful World Cup, two junkies immediately found Novichok, casually thrown away by even more hapless "Russin spies". Geez, if KGB agents are so inept and stupid that they can"t kill some geezer and lose their stuff, how come they are able to "influence US elections"? It doesn't add up.

@lostrune2

Hey, we do the same thing with CIA spies - we believe CIA spies are everywhere Syria mass protests? CIA!

You'e right, at least about Syria. "Free Syrian army", "White helmets" and others are on US payroll and supplied and supported by CIA. And don't forget about the coup in Ukraine.

-12 ( +2 / -14 )

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